ENCINITAS, Calif. - An Encinitas woman told 10News she confronted an intruder in her garage and chased him away, but she now regrets her actions.
When Amy Kong saw images of a man inside her garage, there was no hesitation. She grabbed a kitchen knife and went after him.
Just before midnight on Monday night, she got a push alert on her phone that let her know the surveillance camera in her garage had caught movement.
"I saw that there were six images of a gentleman breaking into my car," said Kong.
Her heart started beating fast, and Kong said, "At this point, I'm scared."
But apparently, she wasn't scared enough to call 911.
"He shouldn't be here. My initial reaction is to get him out as fast as I can," said Kong.
Kong ran downstairs, telling 10News she wanted to "surprise him, and I'm going to chase him out, so I go and grab a knife from the kitchen."
She charged into the garage turned on the lights and saw him.
"I walk in and he had my car door open and was rummaging through my center console," said Kong.
Her adrenaline still pumping, Kong didn't back down.
"I'm yelling at him, 'Help! Get out! Police!' and he runs out of my garage," said Kong.
Kong said she chased him, and he threw something to the ground and then made a motion toward her, but she stood her ground.
"I show him the knife and I'm still yelling … pretty much woke up entire neighborhood," said Kong.
The man took off, and clutching the knife tightly, Kong ran after him for more than 100 feet before he got away.
She found her Gucci wallet that he had tossed, but later she thought about the risk she just took.
"He could have had a gun. Because it ended well, I'm proud of it, but if it didn't end well, I'd be dead. I should have just called the sheriff's department," said Kong.
Kong, a Los Angeles native, said she also took action because she was upset at seeing such a crime in Encinitas.
Anyone with information on the case is asked to call the Encinitas sheriff's substation.
